StarCrossed Forsaken
by Weirdeyes
Summary: Sam and Dean get summoned to a supposedly haunted house, where they meet two girls, sisters whom they hadn't seen for ages. Alynta and Rogue are startled to see the two brothers because they thought they had died. This fan fic delves into relationships th
1. Chapter 1

**This Fan Fiction is rated K+ **

**STAR-CROSSED FORSAKEN**

**Ch. 1**

It was 9.00pm when a black and silver 1967 Chevy Impala streaked along a dark and empty road. The two occupants were both men, brothers who hunted the supernatural.

Dean Winchester, the eldest of the two, was driving. He never paused to contemplate his reflection in the rear-view mirror but if he had he would have seen a handsome dark haired, stunningly green eyed, self-confident reflection of himself gazing out.

Sam Winchester, Dean's younger brother, was stretched out in the passenger seat fast asleep with his mouth slightly open. Sam's hair was longer and darker than his brother's and curled softly around his neck. His eyes, if they had been open, would have been a beautiful blue-green colour. He was frowning, as if caught in a horrible nightmare.

Dean was aware of this but he shrugged it away. Considering the things that the brothers had faced, Sam probably was having a horrible nightmare.

Dean was just trying to invent an original way to rudely awaken his brother – one that he hadn't used more than a dozen times already – when his cell phone began to ring, playing the tune of a newly released song.

"Damn Sam." Dean grumbled reaching for it, "he's changed the frickin' ringtone again."

Sam stirred in the passenger seat as Dean answered the phone. By the time he had sat up, the conversation had ended. The conversation had been so short Sam merely assumed that it was a…

"Wrong number?"

"New case," Dean replied, "Dad wants us in Minnesota."

"Dad." Sam couldn't hold out the scorn in his tone. "He swore that the three of us would stick together, Dean. He agreed that we are stronger as a family. And after all the time we spent looking for him, he pissed off again." Sam felt it was right for him to grouse. He and Dean had searched for their father for almost six months. Finally after discovering him, they had convinced him that they were stronger as a family. And now he was AWOL again. Would they ever be able to find him without him disappearing?

"How far?"

Dean's voice shocked Sam from his thoughts. "I have no idea, Dean!" Sam began to get worked up and his voice reached a fevered pitch, "Hell, if I knew where he was, we'd be standing in front of him, kicking his arse out right now."

"I meant, how far to Minnesota?"

"Oh." Sam glanced at the map spread out in his lap. "Uh. Fourteen hours."

Dean nodded and gave the Impala more gas. He guessed that it would be a long night. Nothing that a little… or a lot of _AC/DC _couldn't fix.

As the sounds of _Highway To Hell_ filled the car Sam knew that it would be a very long night.

-----

Alynta felt herself being dragged up from the deep, gloomy and seemingly infinite depths of sleep by the notorious sounds of _AC/DC's_ _You Shook Me All Night Long_. God, she was surprised that her sister's Dodge Charger's CD player hadn't refused to play at the extensive use of the CD.

Alynta sleepily reached out and jabbed in the general direction of the OFF switch. Unfortunately her finger missed and collided with the volume switch, making the volume loud enough to blast her ears to oblivion.

Alynta was instantly brought fully awake and she punched the OFF switch, which resulted in grazes on her knuckles.

She glanced around. Her half sister, Rogue seemed to have left the driver's seat vacated – something Rogue would never have done during surveillance watch, unless in the direst of emergencies; which seemed to include the local bar over the road.

Alynta ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. Why couldn't Rogue do a job properly for once.

Rogue opened the driver's side door of her black and silver Dodge Charger and slung herself comfortably into her seat.

"I think we need to take this baby in for a touch of paint. Its- What?"

"It was your turn. You were supposed to be watching." Alynta said, annoyance emanating from her voice and fury in her eyes.

"I was watching," grinned Rogue exasperatingly, "Over a glass."

"I hope you didn't drink too much."

"Oh God, Alynta. Its not like we're about to drive to Nebraska." Rogue leant over and switched on the CD player. Due to Alynta's irritation, the OFF switch fell from its place and bounced onto the floor of the car. "And when we get the new coat of paint we'll need a new OFF switch too."

"We need a new car."

"I don't doubt that. But if you end up a successful scammer and get us the millions of dollars we need, we'll get a new car." Rogue ended the sentence by turning the key in the ignition and beginning another performance of _You Shook Me All Night Long_.

With all the evil things Alynta had faced, this was number one. Demons she could handle, at least they didn't own AC/DC albums. She sighed. Pleading silently to the merciful Lord above for a bolt of lightening to strike the CD player and render it useless.

"Well actually Rogue," Alynta shouted over the music, "Miles rang."

Rogue stiffened.

"He wants us in Minnesota."

"Minnesota?" Rogue seemed to stress the word.

"Yeah." Alynta furrowed her brow. "Quite weird. It isn't really our kind of gig. A haunted house… Strange lights, uncanny noises, disturbances, etcetera."

"Haunted house?" Now there was no doubt that Rogue stressed it. "Definitely not our kind of gig. Didn't you tell him we were busy?"

"Busy? Rogue, you've been spending most of your time in the bar. I've been spending most of my time watching the house and we haven't seen anything. You call that busy?"

"… Busier." Rogue corrected herself, "We might have missed something."

"You mean, _you_ might have missed something." Cold fury made its way through Alynta's body. Why couldn't Rogue do something smart for once.

"I… I?" Rogue was glaring at Alynta. "That's not even funny Alynta. You missed something in Arizona. Something called 'happiness'. You've been touchy ever since we left there."

Alynta frowned. "That has nothing to do with driving to Minnesota."

Rogue thought for a moment. "Alright. I agree to drive there. But you will have to stop being so cantankerous."

"Deal. What's the time?"

Rogue grabbed a torch out of the glove box and shone it on her wristwatch. "Almost midnight."

"Good. If we make time we could be there by nine tomorrow."

Rogue pulled out of the park they had been sitting in for the last twenty-four hours and onto the main road. She was beginning to worry. Alynta had never been peevish for more a day, so why was she now? Was it because they had been in America for the past eight months and hadn't hunted anything? That was mainly because there was nothing to hunt. There seemed to be a short supply, if not, non-existent supply of evil demons, malevolent ghosts, hungry vampires, etcetera, etcetera. Maybe Alynta feeling down because the only faces she'd seen for last two of those six months had been Rogue's. Or maybe she just wasn't hearing enough _AC/DC_…


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

"This is it?" Rogue paused to consider the tiny diner they were standing on the pavement in front of.

"Well, it could be one amongst the hundreds that we've seen so far"

Alynta's sarcasm was starting to catch on Rogue. So far this had been the only diner they had seen.

"Right. Must be it then!" Rogue stepped over the pavement and pulled open the door. It was quite a cozy little diner, but really it was only large enough to be a tearoom. The theme colour seemed to be a nice warm red. Sitting in the corner, hiding his nose with a magazine was a skinny African-American man, his estimated age was about twenty. At the jingle of the bell he glanced up and his face cracked into a large grin.

The two girls walked over the red wooden floor to greet him.

"Hi Miles. Long time no see!"

Miles hugged Rogue and then pulled back. "Look at you Rogue. You're beautiful."

Rogue tugged at the hemming on her black tank top. Her top had red and yellow lettering advertising AC/DC. It was, not surprisingly, one of her favourite shirts. She was also wearing faded old blue jeans and black boots. If her sister hadn't stopped her, a black leather jacket would have been added to mix. Instead she had changed it to a denim jacket with silver buttons down the front. Rogue turned to her sister, who was gazing around the café with interested eyes.

Miles also turned to Alynta. "The little sister seems to have grown up a bit too."

Although Rogue and Alynta were exactly the same age, it had always been a joke between Miles and Rogue that Alynta was the younger sister. Alynta ignored the remark as usual. She was wearing a pink tank top with PARADISE ISLAND written across it. Beneath the shirt she was wearing a plaid pink, violet, and white skirt and cream tights with black shoes. Her dark glossy hair was held back firmly by a blue hair scrunchy.

Rogue grimaced, "when was this place designed Miles, the nineteen fifties?"

"I dunno. I've never been here before."

"Nineteen fifty seven, to be precise." Alynta indicated to a silver plaque sitting on the wall above a vase of roses.

Rogue's eyes skimmed over her sister's shrewd face, and she rolled them.

Alynta twisted her head to gaze at Miles. "Are you going to fill us in on this haunted house."

Miles's smile instantly dropped to the floor. "I was hoping that I would fill you in on the house after you went and had a look at it. Then I could see what your verdict was."

Alynta sat herself down at the table nearest her with a sigh. "But how do we know what verdict to give it if you don't fill us in?"

"Huh?" Both Rogue and Miles looked puzzled.

"Never mind. We'll look at it tonight."

"Good idea," said Miles ordering some food from the cute waitress. "About midnight."

-----

Rogue had been parked in the vacant street for two hours. Alynta could feel her legs beginning to cramp because she'd been staying still in the Dodge Charger for so long. She peered through the window and up to the large house – lit by the light of the full moon. She could see why so many people assumed that it was haunted. The wooden picket fence that circled the yard was steadily leaning inwards, only being held up by the tough blades of grass and weeds that needed to be attended to by a gardener. The house itself was three stories high and made of wood. Alynta grinned at the fact that there was probably a basement as well. Creeper was creeping up the sides of the house and growing in through every broken window; even through the front door, which was hanging by one hinge. The house was probably originally painted sky-blue but the paint had faded to a white and was steadily peeling away. All in all, the building looked unsafe.

Alynta felt pain flood into her neck from craning it to get a better look at the house, so she turned back to the road ahead, massaging her neck. In all the time they had been parked in the empty street, they had only seen one person. And even though the street was lined with houses, the lights were all out and there was no sign of human life. There wasn't even the sound of a dog barking.

Suddenly out of nowhere two dark silhouettes ran across the road and into the yard circling the house. They disappeared around the back of the house, and Alynta guessed that they knew what they were doing.

"Hey Rogue!" she turned and shook her sleeping sister. "Grab a torch and a shotgun. It looks like we have a couple of teenagers out for kicks."

Rogue muttered something about 'teenagers' and 'kick in the pants' in the same sentence, but she obeyed her sister's order and grabbed a gun. The two girls climbed out of the Dodge. Rogue ran her fingers smoothly along the side, brushing her fingertips into the chips in the paint and the several large dents. Hunting the supernatural tended to do that to a car. Alynta, two steps ahead of Rogue, waded through the long stiff grass around the back of the yard. She indicated for Rogue to come closer and pointed to the slightly ajar door. Alynta slid smoothly inside the slightly ajar door and cocked her gun expecting someone to grab a hold of her. But there was no one there.

Rogue followed her sister through the first floor of the house as the two sisters skirted rotting planks of flooring and avoided locked doors. Alynta led her sister to an empty hallway and shone her torch both ways.

She lowered her voice. "I hate hallways. You go first."

Rogue rolled her eyes. Ever since Alynta had been fifteen she'd had a fear of long white corridors and small hallways. Rogue didn't know why, it was about to go on the things to discuss with Alynta when she was on her deathbed.

Alynta followed Rogue down the corridor to where it ended in two closed doors. Rogue flung open the left one, her torch cocked in one hand and her gun cocked in the other. Alynta threw open the right with only her gun cocked. Instantly the light that came from the room was dispersed as someone dropped their torch and it fell to the floor.

Rogue closed the left-hand door and followed her sister into the right. They had found the culprits.

Two boys were standing next to each other with their backs to the girls.

"Drop the guns and put your hands in the air." Rogue trained her gun on them. "I'm armed with a gun and I'm not afraid to use it."

One of the boys was hesitant to drop his gun and the other nudged him. "Do it. It's the cops."

This took Alynta by surprise but it suited her fine. Let them think she and Rogue were cops; it might help with the interrogations.

The boy obeyed his companion and dropped the gun.

Rogue shuffled forward, her gun still trained on the boys, and picked up their weapons; carefully handing them towards Alynta.

Alynta opened them to check the cartridges and stifled a gasp. "Hey, this is rocksalt. What are you two doing with rocksalt?"

"We're squatters and uh, we wanted to find a convenient way we could store salt to salt our popcorn."

"Turn around." Rogue ordered and the boys turned slowly.

Alynta shone her torchlight into the boys' faces and didn't bother to stifle the second gasp that leapt from her mouth.

"Rogue." Her voice was dripping with flesh-prickling panic. "Shoot!"

Rogue's gun let off two shots. Both hit their targets. The men's chests.

Sam and Dean Winchester were sent a couple of steps backward and then fell to the floor groaning.

"Oh my God, Rogue!" Alynta whispered, "They didn't die! Lets get out of here."

Suddenly a breeze rippled around the room, slamming the door behind the girls shut, and preventing their escape.

"Holy shit!" Alynta didn't know why she was shouting. "We're stuck in this house that's about to collapse with two ghosts that we can't kill!"

"Ghosts?" Dean looked around. "Where?"

"You died… you're dead." Rogue was feeling slightly confused.

"Dead?" Dean and his brother exchanged glances. "Sam, didn't I tell you that this place looked like hell!"

"You died in a car accident." Alynta was feeling just as confused as her sister, "The Winchesters' died in a car accident."

"Oh. That.' said Sam. "We didn't actually die… its rather a long complicated story. Anyway, how do you know who we are?"

Rogue lowered her torchlight from the brothers' eyes and their eyes took a moment to adjust. Sam was the first to speak.

"Alynta? Rogue? What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Same as you I guess." Alynta's voice lightened. "I can't believe you two aren't dead."

"No, we're alive" Dean grinned.

"Rogue." Alynta grabbed her sister's arm. "Let's go. Its just the Winchesters."

Alynta ripped the door open with a fury that would put the devil to shame. She pulled her sister out of the door with her, without so much as a backward glance.

As the two girls climbed into the Dodge Charger, Rogue turned to Alynta. "What was that for? Why did we have to go?"

Alynta touched the dashboard of the car. Something she did just after having a bad hunt. "You know why we left," she reminded her sister.

"Alynta!" Rogue's voice turned bitter, "Don't remember why we left. Remember why we came back."


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch. 3**

Alynta curled up between the soft white sheets of her motel bed. Even though it was morning and the sun's rays were bursting through the gap in the curtains, signaling the start of a beautiful day, Alynta couldn't help but feel that she'd rather spend it in bed. The shock of last night, meeting the two Winchesters again, after she had thought they were dead, was still clinging to her, like a bad smell that wouldn't go away. After she had heard about the car accident from a hunting friend, it had taken two whole years for painful realization to fade. Then, just when she thought she was immune to the infectious love disease, it had returned to make another scar. Alynta wiped a stray tear that welled out of her eye and traced it way down to her pillow. She'd have to ring Miles and tell him that she couldn't continue with the job, the first one she'd ever turned down. With the Winchester brothers there, the only way to turn was towards the exit door and get out of there like there was fire on your heels and a river ahead of you. How many painful scars would she have to bear? Alynta ran her finger over her stomach, tracing the white scar that arched over her bellybutton, not wanting the answer but getting it anyway… There would be more than one. And there was no way of escaping it.

"Alynta, sometimes the best way of conquering something is to face it head on and sometimes even working together," Rogue remarked from her seat on the end of Alynta's bed.

"You want me to work with the Winchesters'?"

"I didn't mean that." Rogue bit her lip. "Alynta, you were the one who was so eager to come here. Maybe you were supposed to come here and see the Winchester's again. Nothing happens without a reason you know."

Alynta sighed. Maybe she _should_ forget about the Winchesters' and just focus on her job. Although it was a bit hard to when she remembered Sam's face when his and her eyes had met. She had felt the old familiar tug as her heartstrings played an old love ballad. The spark had been there. In both his eyes and her hearts. Alynta shook her head to rid her of the thoughts. Sam Winchester was in the past. "Okay." She agreed.

Rogue wrapped her arms warmly around her sister. "So, what did you think of the house?"

The two exchanged glances and began to laugh. Finally they finished rolling around breathlessly on the bed and sat up, wiping the tears of laughter from their eyes.

"Do we tell Miles that it was a fake?"

Rogue looked thoughtful. "Why don't we compare notes with Sam and Dean. They probably saw a lot more than us. They would have been there a lot longer. Maybe they saw something that we didn't."

A little thrill tingled up and down Alynta's spine at the thought of seeing Sam again. But she couldn't shake the strange feeling that niggled in the corners of her brain. "Lets have breakfast first and then we can decide."

It didn't take Alynta more than a few minutes to get changed into a simple blue t-shirt and jeans, then she stepped outside the motel and breathed in the fresh air. The best thing about the motel was that it was very out of the way. It sat on a bank over looking a fresh blue lake, lined with green trees. Alynta eyed one of the walking tracks. Maybe after breakfast and after calling in at Miles's house, she would be able to come back and take one of the tracks around the lake. Alynta walked down the dirt path that led to the carpark on the left side of the entrance. When they had pulled in last night, it had been after two in the morning and the moon had been the only thing shining light on the lake. It had been truly serene, and now with the sun shining on it and the fish making little ripples, Alynta couldn't believe that just a few minutes ago she hadn't wanted to climb out of bed. She pulled open the door of Rogue's black and silver Dodge Charger and slid into the passenger seat…

Alynta instantly felt better when she was seated at a diner table in front of her breakfast. Rogue had ordered and as usual, she hadn't been too careful. The table legs were practically buckling under the weight of the food.

Alynta shoveled some of her food into her mouth.

"You're quiet." This had been Rogue's first comment since arriving at the diner.

"Ditto." said Alynta. "You're quiet too."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. She knew that Alynta was feeling confused after the unsuspected return of the Winchesters because they had been gone for so long. Rogue's feelings were very much dittoed. The Winchesters deaths had come as quite a surprise to her. She had thought Dean Winchester was invincible. It had broken her heart in half. And it was even worse watching her sister go through the same process over Sam. Rogue remembered Dean's face when she had told him she was leaving and didn't think she would be coming back, it looked like his heart had been torn in two. Dean ran through girls like you might run through boxes of chocolates; Taking everything that you want and then tossing the empty box in the trashcan. Rogue was very similar, as she believed in relationships where you didn't get too caught up in someone, so when something happened, your heart didn't break like the fragile wing of a moth. Then Rogue had met Dean and her beliefs had flown out of the window, hand-in-hand with his. There had been something going on between them, and then her and Alynta had left. On returning, the news had been broken to them that the three Winchesters' had been killed in a horrifying car accident involving a large truck over a year ago. It had shocked both Rogue and her sister, but they had gotten over it and moved on. Now it turned out that none of Winchesters had been killed and Rogue was silently rejoicing inside. Since her sister had agreed to exchange notes with the two brothers, Rogue felt she could finally gaze upon the guy who she had fallen for two years ago in a shopping mall and thought she would never see again.

Alynta sighed and stirred her food around on her plate. The lack of conversation at the table was beginning to irritate her, but every time she tried to say something, the words sounded too corny. She had thought she was hungry but somehow, sitting in front of all the food, and watching her sister munching dreamily, Alynta had lost her appetite. A feeling of yearning had burdened itself upon her, making it clear that playing AC/DC had certainly made her lose her mind.

"Do you think we would find the house listed on the Internet?" Rogue questioned softly.

Alynta reached down beside her chair and put her satchel onto the table. She reached inside and paused. "Damn, I left my laptop back at the motel."

"Your laptop weighs quite a lot. How could you not notice it wasn't in your satchel?"

Alynta slid off her chair and climbed steadily to her feet, avoiding the answer. "I'll drive myself back to the motel and then bring the laptop back."

"Okay." Rogue agreed, throwing the car keys to Alynta. "Take care."

Alynta headed out the door to the Dodge Charger. She clambered into the comfortable driver seat and pushed the key into the ignition. As she pulled out of the car park, she noticed someone walk into the café; a man, who looked suspiciously like Dean Winchester. But she turned away and didn't think anymore about it.

-----

Dean Winchester stepped into the diner in a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and black leather boots. His cocky attitude exaggerated the way he opened the door and swaggered in, but it didn't exaggerate the amount of heads in the diner that turned his way. Dean, used to reception, slowly made his way up the center of the room and rested his hand casually on the counter. Sending a smile to all the perky girls he met on the way. He glanced at the waitress and grinned. "I'll have a bowl of chips and a beer, thanks."

The waitress beamed back. "A bit too early in the day to be drinking don't you think?"

Dean shrugged and glanced at his watch, "Suggest something better than that and I'll take it."

"I make really good coffee."

"I bet that's not all that's on the list of good things you make."

"I'll take that as a yes," the waitress replied. She sent him a brazenly sexy smile before turning and, with her

well-proportioned hips swaying flirtatiously, walked back into the kitchen to give Dean's order to the chef.

Dean was just about to turn around when he felt a hand thrust past his shoulder and place a bottle of crystal clear water on the counter. For a moment he stared at the woman's calloused hand, without turning, trying to recall where he had seen it before, then he spun around to meet the soft doe-eyed gaze of Rogue Who.

"Dean Winchester," she grinned, revealing perfectly straight white teeth, "what the hell are you doing here? Trying to follow me?"

Dean didn't reply for a while. His gaze just swallowed Rogue whole. Her brown eyes, her flushed cheeks, her dark shiny, smooth hair, the way she tilted her head slightly to the side to await his reply, her long dark lashes sweeping over her cheekbones; her perfection.

"More trying to stalk you."

-----

Alynta pulled up the Dodge Charger outside the motel. She glanced sideways as she trudged hurriedly up the gravel path towards the front lobby and, once again, the walking trails beckoned to her. She shook her head, sending fans of hair swirling around her face, she couldn't go now; she had a job to finish. But surely she could go on the trail and make an excuse to Rogue that she had been slightly delayed. Shrugging her shoulders, Alynta turned towards the motel. It was the scream and the gunshot echoing over the lake that made Alynta whip around. They ruptured through the tranquil stillness, sending a flock of brightly coloured birds screeching from the emerald green trees into the air. Without a moment of hesitation, Alynta's training sprung into action and she burst into a run, heading for the direction that the scream and the gunshot had come from; the walking trail. She didn't pause at the green wooden sign sitting at the base of the trail declaring it **THE TRANQUIL TRAIL**. Alynta felt the wind and the damp green leaves slap against her face as she ran through the underbrush that hugged the sides of the trail closely. She didn't hear any other sounds other than her beating heart and the thumping of her feet… and someone else's. Alynta quickly glanced sideways to see who was accompanying her on the mad dash, and then twisted her head back to the trail. It might have only been a quick glance but Alynta knew that she would recognise Sam Winchester anywhere. The two ran to a sprawling halt in a large clearing from where the scream had originated, only to find that it was empty.

"What the…?" Sam ran his fingers through his tousled hair and his voice trailed off. Lying on the leaf-covered ground, not far from where Alynta and Sam were standing, was a woman lying crumpled on her back with her blond hair splayed out around her head.

Alynta carefully stepped over the woman's body and crouched down beside her. Pressing her finger gently into a crease in the woman's blue t-shirt, she pulled it away, to find it dripping with blood. The woman was still warm. She glanced back up at Sam and then both of them met the woman's sightless blue eyes, staring vaguely into the distance.

-----


	4. Chapter 4

**Ch. 4**

Alynta stood up and turned away, trying hard to keep her breakfast down. Dead people were something Alynta couldn't stomach, and neither were the activities that would follow the discovery of the body. Alynta knew exactly what would happen. The police would come and ask enough questions to make her head ache, and possibly there would be more to it than that. Alynta suddenly just wanted to get home and have a shower and dove under her covers, and hide herself from the evilness and aguish that would follow.

"Alynta?" Sam's voice brought her panicked thoughts to a stand still. He grabbed hold of her shoulders and gazed into her eyes, "Breathe. Did you hear what I said?"

Alynta bit her lip and shook her head. Breathing slowly and carefully to calm her fast beating heart.

Sam sighed and let go of her shoulders, "I said, we should call the police."

Alynta grabbed a handful of her dark brown hair, and tugging at it, trying hard to make sense of what had happened. She shook her head, "you can. I'm not."

Sam's green-blue eyes gazed at her in confusion, "You're not going to call the police? Why?"

Alynta could feel tears begin to streak down her cheeks. She sobbed with frustration. "Imagine the trouble it will get us into. Imagine the questions they'll ask. They might even arrest us. Besides, it would be best not to draw attention to ourselves after everything that we've done."

Sam narrowed his soft eyes calculatingly, "Alynta, that's just selfish. You're just thinking about what's best for you."

"Selfish?" Alynta met his eyes, "Maybe so, but I'd rather stay on the outer side of the cold, claustrophobic, jail cell."

She swiveled around on her heels in the damp leafy ground and walked away. She could tell that Sam was fighting inside, deciding whether to do what was right by the law, or by his friend. Finally Alynta won and he jogged to catch up with her. And they walked back to the motel in silence.

"Where are you going now?" Sam questioned, trying to keep the body from his mind, and Alynta paused thoughtfully.

"I'm going up to my motel room to grab my laptop and then I'm driving back into town 'cause I promised Rogue I would."

"Right." Sam grinned, "Dean's in town too, so do you mind if I hitch a ride?"

"I wouldn't say that if I were you. As soon as people say that they are usually volunteering their lives away."

Sam looked at Alynta. "I trust you."

Alynta heard the three words and they hit her like a brick. Oh God, did this mean that history would repeat itself? Would she have to go through all the pain that those three words had brought her, again? She couldn't bear the thought.

"Don't say that," she whispered through clenched teeth.

"Why not?" Sam questioned as the two walked up the front stairs, past the swinging glass doors and into the lobby.

"Just… don't say it."

"Okay…?" Sam breathed out. He had a million questions to ask her at that moment, but somehow, it didn't seem like the right place or the right moment. In fact, he didn't think that it would ever be the right moment.

"Will it be okay if you stay here while I get my stuff?"

Alynta's question halted Sam's thought train halfway between his stations and he was caught off-guard.

"Huh?" a few beats passed. "Oh, yeah. That's okay."

Alynta sent him a little smile. "Good boy, Sammy. We might even stop at the store and get some cotton candy if you're stay here."

Sam winced and went to open his mouth.

"It's SAM. Yeah, I know." She turned and walked back into the corridor that led to the rooms.

She checked the number plaques on the way through, noting that each of the plaques was a different colour, ranging right through the colours of the rainbow. She finally drew to a stop in front of a door with a crimson red plaque with the number 22. She winced, as the red reminded her of the warm blood that had been seeping out of the woman's wound. Reaching out, she pushed the key card into the door. It beeped and she jerked the card out, tucking it in her pocket while pulling the handle and opening the door.

The first thing she noticed was the mess. The room hadn't been like this when she and Rogue had left for the café. There were books and magazines littering the living room floor, and the coffee table that had been standing in the centre of the room was upturned with a couple of glasses lying around it, oozing their contents over the clean white carpet. Alynta glanced around and noticed the window at the opposite end of the room, which looked out over the carpark, was closed but one of the curtains was caught in it. Alynta flinched; it was the sign of a badly skilled breaker and enterer, and was a mistake they usually made on their first assignment. Moving silently with the stealth that echoed the expertise of her training, she stepped over the carpet to the bedroom, ever on guard. She nudged the door gently with the palm of her hand and it opened noiselessly. Alynta moved inside, checking the bathroom as she passed, and sighed with relief. The place was empty, though admittedly, a huge mess.

She relaxed, only a slight bit worried about what the burglar had taken, and hurried around her bed to the small table where she had left her laptop. She snatched it up and tucked it under one arm, then turned around, her eyes doing a quick check-over of the room. It appeared that the burglar had been in too much of a hurry to leave to get anything valuable, but that still left Alynta with a problem. What had the burglar been searching for? Alynta searched the room again with her eyes, doing a quick mental check of what the burglar might have been after. She didn't think the guns were important, and since Rogue and her had almost nothing of value; expensive jewelry and money was ruled out. She walked out of the bedroom door and back into to the living room and as she did, she heard a slight movement from behind her. She spun around and lost her balance, falling backwards towards the floor. The words that ran through her head just before everything went black, were close to R-rated.

Alynta moaned as she came round. Her sight was blurry and as it began clear, she noticed blood on her hands, which were stretched out loosely in front of her face. What the fuck? She muttered quietly to herself as she grabbed the corner of the coffee table and pulled herself up. That was when she remembered she had knocked herself unconscious on the table, though it should have been obvious straight away as her head hurt far worse than any migraine. She put her less blood-covered hand up to the back of her head, feeling slightly woozy, and pulled back with it dripping with blood. Her eyes widened in surprise, the hell? She was bleeding. From the head. Alynta's first reaction was one of worry, how big was the wound, and how much blood had she lost? She glanced around, trying to ignore the dizziness that resulted in the action, and almost vomited at the blood covering the white carpet. How much would that cost to get out? She heaved herself up and made a screwed up beeline for the bathroom, where she promptly heaved the contents of her stomach into the sink then rinsed the sour taste from her mouth. She grabbed a white towel from the drying rack and wet it in the sink before pressing it to the back of her head. Instantly a moan of pain sprang from her lips. She washed her hands to find that the blood was actually pouring from several long gashes there. Wincing, she reached into the shelf above the sink and brought down two bandages, which she bound her hands up with, and then zigzagged crazily back to the living room. There was broken glass on the carpet around the bloodstains, and Alynta guessed that was what she had cut her hands on. She sat down on the sofa and brought her knees up to her forehead, willing the dizziness, and the headache that was making itself apparent, to leave her.

Suddenly she heard a rapping on the door and then the door was thrust open and Sam walked in with his hands jammed into his pockets. He stopped still when he saw her and looked startled.

"Alynta? Why the hell are you covered in blood?"

"I fell and knocked myself out on the damn coffee table." Alynta said.

Sam moved over to her and lifted her bandaged hands, examining the gashes underneath, and then glancing at the bloodied carpet. "Did you hit your head?"

Alynta nodded. Surprisingly all she wanted to do was go to bed, she was that tired.

"Come on. Get up. Let me look at it." Sam pulled her to her feet, and she fell into his warm chest, embarrassed and desiring to overcome the dizziness. He parted the hair on the side of her head and drew in a breath. "Alynta. I think we should get you to a Doctor."

"Is it that bad?" she managed weakly.

"Not really, but it should be checked out. Just in case you have concussion."

Alynta snorted and tried to stand up straight without wobbling, or propping herself against him, and failing miserably at both. "I'm fine." She remarked as perkily as she could, which was only minutely.

"No. You look like you just had a good night out, apart from the cuts on your hands, which I assume came from the broken glass on the carpet. Which leads me to ask, have you and Rogue been having WWF tryouts in here?"

Alynta sat back down and looked up at Sam. "Honestly? If we were, we'd both be dead by now. So, no. Someone came in and totally trashed the place._**" **_

"Can you walk to the car?" Sam asked offering her a hand.

Alynta glanced at it, and shook her head. "I couldn't possibly make it. Even with your help. I'm too dizzy."

"Okay." Sam glanced around. "Do you want a glass of water? I'm going to ring Rogue and tell her what happened and then I'm going to ring my brother. What's Rogue's cell number?"

-----

Rogue glanced around the table that her and Dean were seated at. Man, was she going to totally murder Alynta when she got back. How long did it take to drive from the café to the motel, which wasn't a great distance away, grab a laptop, and drive back?

Rogue's eyes flicked around the café, hesitating on the door to see if Alynta would suddenly walk in, before, finally, coming to rest on Dean, who was sipping a warm cup of coffee. Suddenly her cell, which was sitting in the centre of the table, amongst her empty plates and her sister's half empty ones, began to play its bizarre tune for the everyone in the café to hear. And everybody, taking advantage of that, did. Rogue grabbed it and flipped it open to cut the embarrassment, receiving a colossal grin from Dean.

"Is that the theme tune for the Ghost Busters?"

"Trust me. It was my sister's choice." Rogue muttered to him, her eyes lowered with annoyance. "With the job we do… She thought it seemed appropriate."

She raised the cell to her ear, without glancing at the caller ID, and then she paused and her startled eyes flicked up to meet his eyes, "Sam? Is something wrong? Don't bother; he's here with me. What's going on?"

Moments later she hung up and grabbed her bag and started hurriedly walking towards the door.

"What's going on?" Dean looked mildly curious

"Alynta managed to knock herself out on the table in our motel room. Sam thinks she might have concussion."

Dean grabbed Rogue's arm and pulled her back. "Sam tends to exaggerate, I'm sure Alynta's fine. She probably just hit her head and that's it."

Rogue bit her lip. "Dean, I know you don't like Alynta very much, but she's my sister. She's my responsibility. Sam may be exaggerating, but I have to see if she's alright." She paused, thoughtfully, "and, uh, I need to borrow your car."

-----

Rogue threw open the door with a flourish, but without actually knocking. She looked at her sister, who was curled up on the sofa, with a glass of water in one shaky hand, and holding a damp towel to her head, with the other. Sam had placed himself beside the sofa on a barstool, which had been removed from its place next to the black marble topped bench, bordering the kitchen.

Dean followed Rogue in, though not quite as dramatically. He glanced quickly at Alynta then looked back at Rogue. "She looks fine to me. Lets go." He turned to walk towards the door, but paused when Rogue didn't follow him.

Rogue was ignoring Dean, as she looked around the room, trying to mask her surprise, and successfully. "What happened?"

"If I told you we would be here for the rest of our lives." Even though Alynta wasn't feeling entirely herself, she managed to fake a large and carefree smile.

Rogue took another look at her sister. This one was far more calculating. "Never mind. Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"I trust you to tell me the truth, y'know."

There were those three damned words again 'I trust you'. Alynta could never escape them. And that was her last thought before she slid back into the steadily growing darkness of unconsciousness.

And it welcomed her.

-----


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch. 5**

The smell of disinfectant stung Rogue's nostrils as she gazed around the hospital waiting room from her hideous plastic orange throne. Sam and Dean were both perched on the uncomfortable orange plastic seats either side of her. Standing in front of her was a small white plastic table covered in celebrity magazines headlining the latest and juiciest scandal that probably wasn't even true. Scandal magazines were something that Rogue refused to read. It meant breaking her away from reality, taking her into a world of sex, drugs, alcohol, abuse, murder and suicide, when everyone knew that you had to take the bad with the good, and there was no good in those magazines.

Rogue pushed her hand through her dark hair and frowned slightly. Nobody could have had as much trouble taking someone to the hospital as her, Dean, and Sam, had taking Alynta in. And even after they had got her into the hospital, she threatened, quite childishly, that Rogue would get her comeuppance. But Rogue wasn't particularly worried, after all, what could someone, who had just been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past hour, possibly do to hurt her?

Suddenly a tall, thin nurse, dressed entirely in white, stepped through the swinging double doors, with a clipboard wrapped snugly in one rigid arm. The other arm was hanging stiffly by her side, gripping a pen. The expression she wore on her face was one of complete boredom. Sam leapt to his feet and Rogue and Dean promptly followed.

"Is she alright?" Rogue asked, worry lining every inch of her young smooth face.

The lady peered at them over the top of her glasses with watery grey eyes. Before she could open her mouth to reply, the question had already been answered, as Alynta stepped hurriedly through the swinging double doors.

"See for yourself," the woman managed with a sour edge on her voice.

"Hi." Alynta said breathlessly as she flicked some of her loose hair out of her face with a bandaged hand.

"Well?" Rogue prompted. She sent a small smile to the acidic nurse and then began to walk down the corridor towards the entrance. She couldn't wait to get out in the fresh air so she could stop smelling the bitter disinfectant.

Alynta walked to catch up with Rogue, Dean and Sam as they walked towards the way out. "Well what? The Doctor said that I had mild concussion and the best thing for that was to go straight to bed and stay there for a couple of days, and in a few days I should be back to normal. But you know that I would never be able to stay in bed that long. He stitched up a few of the really deep cuts on my hands and I have to come back in a week to get the stitches out. But he said that the rest of the cuts should heal by themselves and I hadn't lost enough blood to be worried."

Rogue sighed as she pushed open the doors and walked out into the fresh air, and then she turned towards the wooden bench beside the entrance, which was obviously for the smokers because of the large metal litterbin sitting beside it. Tossing an empty can of coke into the bin, she turned to Alynta. "I guess that means that we'll be sticking around here for a while, because of your concussion and stitches."

"I guess so." Alynta shrugged it off.

Rogue stared at her half sister. She was beginning to think that the knock to Alynta's head had reverted her back to her old self. And she thought that with true relief. God, how much had she missed her sister's old ways? More than she could ever have imagined.

-----

When Rogue pulled the Dodge Charger up in front of the motel, she was surprised to find it teaming with police, and their squad cars almost left her with nowhere to park. She climbed out and turned to check whether Alynta would need any help, which even if she had, she would never have admitted. One thing Alynta despised was being babied. But when Rogue's eyes rested on Alynta, she was exchanging knowing glances with Sam.

"What's going on?" Rogue couldn't help asking, because her curiosity was aroused.

Alynta stood up and rested a hand on the roof of the Dodge casually. "How should I know?"

Rogue rolled her eyes, and began walking towards the police, who were at that moment, speaking to the owner of the motel. She noticed one of the motel guests standing to the side, a beautiful, dark haired African-American girl with full lips and dancing eyes.

"My name's Abigail Yates." Rogue lied cleverly as she stepped up to the girl, "What happened?"

"Cara Bush." the girl held out her hand and shook Rogue's firmly, smiling warmly but looking slightly bewildered. "Haven't you heard?"

Rogue shook her head as Sam, Alynta and Dean joined her.

"Well," Cara began, "one of the motel guest's found a woman's body, lying on one of the walking trails around the lake. She was murdered. Took a bullet to the heart and died almost instantly. The police are still investigating. Trying to find the killer."

"Have they got any suspects?" Dean asked.

"I wouldn't have a frickin' clue." Cara replied, "The police haven't exactly let it slip." Then she seemed to notice Alynta's bandages, and a frown creased her forehead. "Ouch, that looks sore."

"Um yeah." Alynta gazed around distractedly. She tugged Rogue's sleeve, and then turned to Cara, "thanks so much for your help, but we have to go."

"What was with that?" Rogue asked when her, Alynta, Dean and Sam reached the motel lobby.

Alynta suddenly clutched Rogue's sleeve and began to wobble precariously. "I'm starting to feel dizzy." Instantly Rogue looked worried. "Come on, I'll help you to our room."

Alynta laughed. "No, I'm fine." She only just managed to stop herself falling over again by grabbing Rogue's hand. "And, maybe not."

-----

Alynta sat cross-legged on the balcony of her and Rogue's motel room, overlooking the dark lake, with the even darker trees surrounding it. The night sky was peppered with shining stars, twinkling their way into existence. The glass door was open behind her, letting some of the cool fresh air into the rather warm and stuffy motel room, and the white curtained billowed out, sweeping gracefully inwards and outwards following the currents of air. Alynta sighed and plucked a string of the polished wooden acoustic guitar that was rested on her denim-clad thigh. She looked around for inspiration, searching through her head for a tune.

"I'm going out." Rogue called, popping her head around the door. She was startled to find Alynta was sitting with her guitar, fingers ready to play the strings. Alynta hadn't done that for a while. The light from the room was shining on the white shirt that Alynta was wearing making her look like some sort of celestial angel, as her brown hair, streaked with red and gold in the light, danced around her head. Alynta looked up to acknowledge Rogue's presence.

"Where?"

"I thought I might go and get pizza since its eight p.m. and we haven't had anything to eat yet."

"Alright. Do you want me to come with you?"

Rogue knew it was genuine concern in Alynta's voice, after the woman's death earlier that day. But she shook Alynta's offer. "The boys are in their room, I'll just ask one of them."

"Okay." Alynta agreed, her eyes a little wide with curiosity, and her lips relaxed. This was the look that had earned her the title of 'little sister', because she looked so sweet and serene – "And remember, no mushrooms, no anchovies, no pickles, no peppers, and especially no olives, which you seem to forget every time you buy pizza." – until then.

Rogue came pretty close to laughing.

As Rogue walked back in their sitting room, Alynta turned back to look out, through the enclosed clear plastic rail stopping anyone from falling over the balcony. It had taken a bit of doing but Rogue had – somehow – managed to get the bloodstains out of the carpet. Alynta hadn't asked her about it, as Rogue was very private when it came to her skills in witchcraft. Alynta strummed the strings on the guitar on her lap softly with her thumb, and within seconds she was strumming something that she had never heard before, it just flowed from her fingers. She started by singing the words softly but as she moved deeper into the song, her voice began to get stronger. When the last notes had faded away, and Alynta's hands came to a rest, she flexed them, trying to ignore the pain that shot through them. A few months ago, Alynta would have been able to heal the cuts on her hands, but now she felt none of the old tingles that meant she was healing. She shook her head in frustration.

-----

Rogue stepped out of the motel room into the corridor and walked towards the boys' room. She paused at the door with the gold plaque, pronouncing itself room number seventeen. She knocked on the door. No one answered. She tried a different tactic. "Who wants pizza?"

Instantly the door opened and Dean stood in the threshold. "Hang on a second. I'll be with you." He closed the door and a moment later he opened it, this time to join Rogue on the other side of the door. "Who's car are we taking."

"I don't suppose it matters," Rogue grinned warmly, "preferably one big enough for a tonne of pizza."

Dean grinned at that. "What pizzas are you getting?"

"Ones with mushrooms, anchovies, pickles, peppers and olives specially for Alynta. What about you?"

Dean didn't answer as they strode through the lobby and outside, meeting the rush of cool air. He looked out across the lake. The moon shone out across the lake, and the trees began the stir and rustle softly as the gently breeze tugged at their branches. The two moved towards the car park where Rogue had parked the Dodge Charger. "That woman that was killed, did they find her name?"

Rogue nodded, tugging the eggshell coloured scarf wrapped warmly around her neck. "Yeah, her name was Mary Devin. She was a twenty-three year old English backpacker travelling around the States with her boyfriend. Apparently the police have taken her boyfriend in for questioning."

"They think he killed her?"

Rogue shrugged, "Maybe. It's possible."

Dean suddenly paused in the middle of the gravel path and Rogue, realising that he wasn't walking with her, turned around to look at him. Dean looked inquisitive. "Where did you get all this information? I thought Alynta was the one that did all the studying."

"Never mind. Its small beer."

Dean cocked his head to the side, and Rogue knew at once that he wasn't going to stop until he got it out of her.

Rogue couldn't help smiling, "Alright, it was Cara. She's like a vade mecum. A source of information." She started walking again and Dean caught up with her. They walked to the car. Rogue opened the door and went to slide in, and then she noticed something white lying on the seat.

Spying her hesitation Dean stared. "What's wrong?"

Rogue gaped at the scene before her. A dead animal was sitting in the centre of her much-loved, hardly-ever-vacated-for-anyone-else seat. But that wasn't what she was gaping at. The animal – now unrecognisable, and smelling like nothing on Earth, and probably even in the universe – had a note pinned to it with a knife, which ran straight through the animal's heart and deep into Rogue's plush seat. "It's a note. A PRINTED note."

"What?" Dean leaned over to get a better view and receiving a face full of the strong, evil smelling odour. He looked up and his eyes met Rogue's horrified ones. He quoted the note out loud. "Always remember that curiosity killed the cat, Alynta."

-----


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch. 6**

Neither Rogue nor Dean breathed a word of the note to the two back in the motel. When they finally got the pizza and got back to the motel they found Sam listening transfixed outside the door of Rogue and Alynta's motel room. He motioned for them to listen, which they preceded to do, though it was difficult, because they were hungry and the smell of pizza was wafting from the boxes they were holding. The door had been left slightly open and it appeared that Alynta was doing the exact same thing she'd been doing before Rogue had left, only this time she was playing the guitar and singing softly, a tune that none of the three on the other side of the door recognised.

Rogue didn't stop for long. She threw open the door and chuckled when Alynta, who had moved herself to the sofa, jumped like a frightened rabbit, almost sending her guitar flying.

"Pizza delivery. One specially for Alynta with mushrooms, anchovies, pickles, peppers and olives." She whipped open the cardboard lid and thrust the steaming pizza into Alynta's lap, "ta-da. The only one that holds every single ingredient you listed…. A Hawaiian."

Alynta laughed with relief. "Hey. For a second I thought you were serious." She glanced down at the pizza before her and the smile disappeared. "Oh no, Rogue, you didn't."

"Oh I did. Don't worry, you can pick 'em all off." Rogue grabbed a knife from the cutlery drawer and began to messily slice her pizza, before handing the knife onto Sam. Within the next few minutes, the only sound that filled the room was chewing, as everyone munched on their blissfully good pizza, filling their empty bellies. Although, every now and then there was the sound of disgust as Alynta bit into a pickle, or one of the other things she had specifically requested not to have.

As soon as the last of the pizzas had either been digested, or stuck in the fridge for further consumption at breakfast the next day, and the sauce covered cardboard boxes had been jammed into the bin, filling it to the brim, Rogue and Dean moved themselves outside. Alynta and Sam were, as usual, arguing about something of little importance, and the stars seemed far better company.

Rogue rested her arms across the balcony rail and leant forward gazing at the carpark below them. She tried to spot both the Impala and the Dodge to pass the conversation-less time. The air hung heavy with discomfort, due to the fact that neither her nor Dean could think of anything to say. Suddenly she felt a warm arm press against hers. She glanced sideways to discover that Dean was gazing at her. His eyes were filled with something she couldn't read. Pain? Love? Anger? Fear? Then he broke her thoughts.

"Why did you leave?"

Rogue was caught off guard. "Huh?" She mentally belted herself. It was obvious what he'd said.

"Why did you leave?" Dean repeated coolly. "Why didn't you stay?"

Rogue turned away from Dean and gazed out over the balcony again, as she refused to meet his eyes. "I don't know. It was Alynta. She wanted us to leave, and if she'd had her way, our paths would never have crossed again."

Dean's eyes looked like dark pools with little glimmers of light as he turned around and rested his elbows and back against the rail, his face turned towards Rogue.

Rogue hooked her forefinger around a piece of her dark hair and twirled it. "Alynta's like the sunshine in my life; the one thing that gets me up on a really bad morning, when everything is going wrong. She's the sister I didn't know I had until I was fifteen. I'd do anything for her without questioning it." Rogue's eyes filled with pain. "I'd even die for her. Its corny but true."

"You need to stop living in Alynta's shadow, Rogue." Dean stated.

Rogue showed her surprise when her eyebrows leapt a few inches up her forehead, and her lips parted bemusedly. The lock of hair fell from her finger, even though she continued with the twirling motion, as though it were still there.

"You need to take a breath, step back, and stop living her life. Live your own and live it like you're going to die tomorrow."

Rogue grinned. "Live my own life creatively, you say." She suddenly encircled her arms around Dean's neck and before he knew it, her lips were pressed - warm and soft - against his. His fingers became tangled in her hair as he held her head, preventing her from pulling away from the kiss that he had so desperately desired since first seeing her in a shopping mall. And the wait had been well worth it. Rogue savoured his lips on hers. Wasn't this what she had dreamt about so many years ago, before it had seemed impossible? Then her mind went blank, as she gave way to her heart, her lips and her desire. Slowly they pulled away and Dean's hands moved down to rest in the small of her back as he pulled her into a warm, protective and interminable embrace. She rested her cheek upon his shoulder, and the troubles that she had before dissipated into the cool night air.

-----

Rogue hid her grinning face beneath her pillow the next morning, as she heard Alynta stir in the single bed across from her. She still couldn't believe that she had kissed Dean Winchester last night. She barely got to move further in her thoughts when her cell phone rang. Rogue flailed an arm out from under her headquarters beneath the pillow, hoping somehow, to randomly catch it on the irritating cell, sending it into the burning fires of hell, which just so happened to be the open window she was within inches of, although it was to the right of her bed and her phone was to the left. Instead she hit a button on the alarm clock and the exasperating thing began to emit a rather loud and shrill beep.

"The hell with that," Alynta shouted from over the other side of the room, her voice sounding rather muffled to Rogue beneath the pillow, "The damn thing's between the lamp, the alarm clock, and your glass of water."

Rogue knew at once that Alynta couldn't have been comfortably sandwiched between two pillows as Rogue was. Using the coordinates given, Rogue's hand felt its way across the bedside table, finally managing to land upon the cell as a fortunate estimation of the location. But as soon as she had brought it beneath the top pillow with her, it had fallen silent. Rubbing her eyes, Rogue blearily lifted her head to glance at the caller ID before falling back onto the pillow beneath her head. Sighing, she grabbed either end of the pillow above her, and threw it in the general direction of Alynta's bed. She knew it wasn't her day when the pillow fell short of its target and landed on the floor in between the two beds, knocking over Rogue's glass of water in its wake. She reached out to catch the glass, only to knock it onto the toes of Alynta, who just happened to be passing by barefoot. She left out a gasp and sprang away, casting a withering glance at Rogue. "What? It just jumped off." Alynta stormed from the room, still assuming that the accident had really been on purpose.

Rogue hit the redial number on the cell and waited for it to pick up, which it did dutifully within three rings. "Rogue? Where have you been? You said that you would call on me and tell me about the house, but you didn't. And you didn't even call me. I been trying to reach you for the past four hours."

"Miles." Rogue acknowledged, as she glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table, which upon her giving it the evil eye, fell silent. The digital numbers read 8.30am. "That was you? I dreamt that I was at a party waiting for the people to play some really cool music so I could dance and they couldn't find the right CD so they played the song to Ghost Busters instead."

She heard Miles snort on the other end of the phone. "Well, are you going to call in today?"

"No promises." Rogue said, "We just caught up with the Winchester brothers."

"The Winchester brothers? But I thought they were-" he paused, "oh, never mind. How's Alynta?"

"Funny you should ask." Rogue lowered her voice so Alynta wouldn't hear, and began to repeat the events of yesterday and the note, excluding any details of Dean's kiss. When she was finished, there was silence on the other end.

Then, "wow. Looks like you got a large load on your shoulders at the moment."

Rogue sighed. "Don't tell me about it. Look, I've got to go. I spilt water on Alynta's toe and she's mad at me."

Miles began to protest but Rogue hung up on him, and after a moment's hesitation, she flung the cell under the only pillow that was left on her bed and put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion, "now, go to sleep."

She turned to get off the bed and was surprised to be confronted by Alynta.

"You know, I've heard of people talking into their cell phones, but never TO their cell phones."

"See, it's a case of desperation." Rogue moved past Alynta and into the bathroom, where she proceeded to have a warm shower.

-----

Alynta stepped gingerly into the shower that Rogue had deserted just ten minutes ago. She turned on the cold handle and then quickly turned on the hot, knowing that she was practised in the art of tap turning. She shied away as the hot water took slightly longer than the cold. She caught sight of Rogue's shower gel tube, perched perilously on the edge of the soap dish, which fastened securely to the wall. Alynta grabbed the gel tube and squeezed it out onto her hands and rubbed it over her shoulder, working it into a smooth white foam. It was after she had washed her hair thoroughly, stepped out of the shower, and pulled a t-shirt and jeans on that she heard the second gunshot that week. Once again, birds rose in majestic colours from the trees around the lake, sweeping their wings across the line in the horizon and winging back to a safer huddle of trees. Alynta's mind turned into a PowerPoint Presentation as it flashed through images of the dead woman yesterday. She couldn't help herself; she had to find out what was going on.

-----


End file.
